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Sunday, February 24, 2013

Vatican
City, 24 February 2013 – More than 200,000 people attended the
final Angelus of Benedict XVI's pontificate. Maxiscreens were placed
in the areas around St. Peter's Square so that the faithful who could
not enter the square would be able to see the Pope at the window of
his study shortly before noon.

The
Holy Father was received with much applause and, before beginning his
short meditation, responded saying, “Thank you, thank you very
much.” He then commented on the Gospel reading for this second
Sunday of Lent, which recounts the Transfiguration of the Lord.

“Luke
the Evangelist,” he said, “places particular attention on the
fact that Jesus was transfigured as He prayed. His is a profound
experience of relationship with the Father during a type of spiritual
retreat that Jesus undergoes on a high mountain in the company of
Peter, James, and John, the three disciples who are always present at
the moments of the Master's divine manifestation. The Lord, who had
foretold His death and resurrection shortly before, offers His
disciples an anticipation of His glory. Again at the Transfiguration,
as at His Baptism, we hear the voice of the Heavenly Father: 'This is
my chosen Son; listen to Him.' The presence of Moses and Elijah, who
represent the Law and the Prophets of the Old Covenant, is very
important. The entire history of the Covenant is directed toward Him,
the Christ, who brings about a new 'exodus', not to the promised
land, as in the time of Moses, but to heaven. Peter's exclamation,
'Master, it is good that we are here', represents the impossible
attempt to stop this mystical experience. St. Augustine comments:
“Peter … on the mountain ... had Christ as the Bread of his soul.
Should he then depart from there to return to struggles and sorrows,
while up above he was full of the holy love for God that inspired him
to saintly behaviour?”

“Meditating
on this Gospel passage, we can draw a very important teaching from
it. First of all, the primacy of prayer, without which the entire
commitment of ministry and charity is reduced to activism. During
Lent we learn to give the proper time to the prayer, both personal
and communal, which gives breath to our spiritual life. In addition,
prayer is not an isolation from the world and its contradictions, as
Peter would have wanted on Mt. Tabor. Instead, prayer leads to a path
of action. 'The Christian life—I wrote in this year's Lenten
Message—consists in continuously scaling the mountain to meet God
and then coming back down, bearing the love and strength drawn from
Him, so as to serve our brothers and sisters with God’s own love.'”

“I
hear this Word of God addressed to me in a special way at this moment
of my life. The Lord has called me to 'scale the mountain', to
dedicate myself still more to prayer and meditation. But this does
not mean abandoning the Church. If God asks me this it is precisely
so that I might continue to serve her with the same dedication and
the same love with which I have tried to give up to now, but in a way
more suitable to my age and my strength. Let us call upon the
intercession of the Virgin Mary: May she help all of us to always
follow the Lord Jesus, in prayer and in works of charity.”

After
praying the Angelus, in his greetings in various languages, the Pope
thanked everyone for expressing their closeness and for keeping him
in their prayers in these days, saying: “We also give thanks to God
for this sun we have today”, seeing that in Rome, contrary to the
meteorological forecasts, it was not raining.

In
addressing the Polish pilgrims he reaffirmed that on Mt. Tabor,
Christ “revealed the splendour of His divinity to His disciples,
giving them the certainty that, through suffering and the cross we
can gain resurrection. We always have to perceive His presence, His
glory, and His divinity in the life of the Church, in contemplation,
and in everyday events.”

Finally,
speaking to the many Italians from diverse dioceses throughout the
peninsula, he bade them farewell saying: “Thank you, again. We will
always be close in prayer.”